The Silverado Bar

Ok … Stop here while we waited for our son to finished his class. The place was semi-​busy at 6 pm. Two go-​go dancers took turns entertaining the patrons. Now, why do they think it is necessary to display their genitals? No prude, and yes I am well equipped but the surprise in the package! Guys, keep it under wraps and make it more intriguing — entice the the patrons with you dance ability and sex appeal. I would have more than given them $$ if they weren’t so busy trying to keep it hard to reveal the size of their hard-on’s. Beautiful young boys but need experience in the art of intrigue.
Still was fun but next time I will sit at the bar, and maybe not be to distracted by the go-​go dancer comedy hour.
Nice place — would recommend it just for giggles and fun!

Awful place! It’s dirty and gross, the bathroom door has a hole in it and nothing locks. They seem to hate women, they kept eying us and making us feel very unwelcome. It seems that the bartender didn’t even put alcohol in our drinks, I know this because I’m a huge lightweight and after 3 of my usual drinks, couldn’t feel a thing. They yelled at the stripper for giving my friend a lap dance because he was «ignoring the men and touching a woman.» Very ridiculous place!

Just moved to the area, first time here. Was greeted so warmly and awesome by doors guys and cashiers, had my group laughing, got us amped up about going in. then we walked in and apparently that’s where the party stopped, staff inside were rude, not very nice. It was dead for being after midnight on a sat. We had just come from a similar bar with a cheaper cover and decided to walk out and go back to that bar. Was sad since Silverado was what everyone was recommending.

it’s a gay bar with strippers: bring your one’s and an open mind to have some fun.

The staff is very friendly, and they have boys for every taste. I personally like small fit boys

Honestly I think this could be one of the weirdest gay bars I have ever been too. The dancers were okay some were good some looked like they were calling it in. The crowd was very interesting far more interesting than the dancers. the rule were odd but I assumed they were some strange Portland law.

Great happy hour with G&T for $ 2. Drink is nice and strong: I’ll have one more (or two or three) and then pass out!

Silverado has long been a gay dive bar. It features strong drinks and male strippers. Over the year many people have tried and failed to compete. Now there is Stag. It features most of the Silverado talent in a smaller space with a more upscale feel. Last time I was there Silverado did not have enough strippers to go around. It will be interesting to see if they make it as they have so far and if Hawks can survive.

No matter what Kiem says — you guys are the best male-​titty bar in PDX and OR.
Stag said they wanna kill everyone in the water. That kind of business is why they don’t get it and you get us.
Love you guys!

We had a friend in town and took him to Silverado with the promise of a strip show. The drinks were good and cheap, but the show put us to sleep. The guys just stood there on stage with their underwear occasionally grabbing themselves or revealing an ass cheek. There was no dancing nor was there any actually stripping.

i like this place.
i’ve been a seldom patron for years but it never disappoints.
i like that it’s a weird mix of bar and strip club. now let’s all be honest, the old silverado was A-​mazing! but this is it’s own thing. you are basically signing up to go to a bar that happens to have a few stripper up on a stage as well. the strippers are nice and varied in ability and looks. i support the furry and lumbery ones as the typical is the plastic pretty muscle men. but they will be sweet to you, hug and thank you for tips and any extra effort you make to show your appreciation for their presence on stage.
drinks are stiff and affordable. no bachelorette parties allowed so it’s not crazy or screaming girls. it’s great.
go support our only gay strip club and the boys that are brave enough to do it!

‘Ding Dong’. Nope, that’s not the doorbell. It is a literal ding dong.
Here’s a brief, «The More You Know Moment»… Portland has the most strip bars per capita than any other U.S. city. This doesn’t necessarily mean nude girls all over, because the fellas like to get in on that single dollar swinging action as well.
Now that you know this city is filled with multiple greased up metal poles, lets start the fun. A huge group of us came here because a little birdy told us it was amateur night. I mean, who doesn’t want to see a bunch of clumsy Under Armour clad fellas stumbling all over the stage. We came, we saw, and it was super fun at Silverado.
Along with the lack of inhibition here, was also the lack of cost. They were charging four dollars for vodka sodas and a dollar for strong jello shots. The more booze the better when you’re in unfamiliar territory. This place is not for the faint of heart or the close minded. This is a venue of freedom and the right to show your butt cheeks at all times.
I give it up to brave souls who ventured on stage that night and I hope they didn’t take our delightful snickering to seriously.

Mom: What did you do in Portland?
Me: Oh nothing, just went to a gay strip club, NBD.
You may ask yourself — does such a place exist? It does and it’s called The Silverado Bar in Portland. I’m not really a club or even a strip club kind of guy, but when the opportunity presented itself to check out some dudes dancing, I followed the pack and headed towards this mysterious place. Everyone was pretty surprised that we didn’t have this sort of thing in Los Angeles… but then again I think it’s pretty much every club on Santa Monica Blvd.
Now I understand that no cameras are allowed to protect the privacy of those doing cartwheels in g-​strings on stage, but I didn’t understand the no clapping, cheering or whistling concept. If someone was doing something memorable, shouldn’t they be rewarded with cat calls and bad behavior? Not here, none of that was welcome and they made it very clear that it wasn’t permitted, which made it awkward because it was either silent, or people were having their own convos and not even paying attention to what was going on.
Monday nights (when we went) are apparently amateur nights — so there was a wide range of entertainment. It all starts promptly at 10pm and each person is given a few minutes to do their thing. Because it was amateur night, there was everything from the super impressive to things that looked like seizures. I was bummed that the talent didn’t choose their own music for their routine as I would think that’d be the best part of the job. Everyone danced to whatever was on in the background.
The crowd was super diverse with a variety of age ranges. We saw everything from old men cramming dollars down dude’s undergarments to a bunch of ladies just hanging for a GNO. There was no type that was here and I think that was what made it more comfortable for anyone that decided to come and socialize.
Drinks are super cheap here and they only accept cash. Bring the green if you’re going to partake. They do have an ATM in the lobby if you forget, but be prepared for some fun fees to withdraw. Some nights have a cover and others don’t, but I don’t think it’s ever more than $ 5 a pop. If you’re really into getting sloppy, Jell-​o shots are only a buck — good luck!
We stayed for about an hour and saw a lot of things that we probably will never be able to unsee. From mild to wild, we did see some danglers, but we were ready to retreat to the comforts of overpriced cocktails and men with trousers for the remainder of our evening.
It was definitely an experience to remember and I’d come back to check out some of the other themed nights that they have in terms of talent. Keep Portland weird, folks!

I’m in love with a stripper…
Jk. Not at all. I spent most of the my time here making a puzzled ‘doing-​math-​in-​my-​head’ face while trying to figure out if it were physically possible for me to be the mother of any of these boys. Emphasis on the use of the word, ‘boys’, because boy are they young.
We came in on a Monday evening, which is apparently amateur night, though more than a few of them seemed at least a little professional when it came to open-​air gyrating.
There was no cover and almost a week later I still have remnants of the ‘Party On’ stamp given to me by the bouncer on my hand. When we first walked in I was surprised because I thought this would be a full-​on strip club, but it was pretty empty and there were zero naked or dancing people so I’d say it’s more of a dive bar with a single, scantily clad male bartender.
Drinks are cheap AF and service was pretty damn wonderful considering I’m a girl and basically invisible here.
It took at least a good half hour before we saw anyone n their skivvies and dancing and when it the amateur show started it was a bit of a mess. You can’t yell or make noise, just look and give dollars in support, which I guess is a pretty civil way of doing things but it sucks a little bit of the fun out of it. There’s no announcer or anything– the boys just line up on stage and then scatter amongst the bar while one dances on stage and another dances on this little platform in the back.
I expected the whole experience to be a little more exciting than it was but the drinks were all like $ 4 and under with $ 1 jello shots (because of course) and for strictly scientific purposes, I did find it interesting, but it didn’t do anything for me overall other than give me a good, hearty buzz from the cheap, strong beer.

Co-​Workers: Let’s go out for a drink!
Me: Uhhh I’m okay. I’m going home.
Co-​Workers: Oh come on! You can’t miss out on the memories!
Me: Oh yes I can. You’re just going to go to a lame dive bar.
Co-​Workers: No, we’re going to Silverado!
Me: Yeah, it’s a lame dive bar!
Co-​Workers: No. It’s a gay strip club.
Me: (Looking up Silverado on Unilocal app and finding funny half naked man taking selfie in bathroom) Oh hell no. I’m in! Half naked men who are absolutely not interested in me? This is my kind of party.
True Confession: I made a secret promise to myself this year that I was going to stop being a prude and have more experiences! I’m going to go hiking in the mountains (I’m not outdoorsy at all), travel to foreign countries, and simply experience more NEW things! Well a gay strip club is certainly something I’ve never experienced so thank you Portland and dear co-​workers for helping me check off a few things from my bucket list.
I wasn’t sure what to expect considering it was a Monday and AMATEUR night, but I was actually surprised that the Silverado was fairly clean and low key. We ordered a round of drinks from the half naked bartenders and waited for the show to start. The music blared as we hung out with our cocktails and although it wasn’t very busy, there were a decent number of people in the room.
One thing to note is that there’s absolutely no photography, no screaming, and no bachelorette parties allowed. I found this to be extremely interesting because this obviously changes the entire energy of the evening.
The bartender, who also happened to be the emcee, announced the contestants for the evening and ten man-​boys paraded out onto the stage half dressed in jeans and underwear. Most of them looked liked teenagers and that made the entire situation oddly uncomfortable. Sad to say I personally wasn’t impressed and decided that it was time to turn in for the night. I came, I saw and left before having to witness any completely unnecessary nudity. Yes, I’m still a prude, and I’m totally okay with that!

We thought we knew what we were in for when discussing coming here for amateur night, but in the same breath, we had absolutely no idea what we were in for when it came to amateur night. It could either be completely amazing in the best possible way, or it could be completely amazing in the worst possible way. Either way, we wanted to investigate. After dinner we pulled together a group, took a quick ten minute walk and let the adventure begin.
There was no cover at the door on Monday and we were instructed that «the show starts at 10:00. No hootin’, hollerin’ or whistlin’.» Deal. At the stroke of 10:00 the train wreck kicked into gear and the stage was graced with rock hard abs and chiseled cheek bones. The highlight would have to be a particular entertainer that we dubbed «Matt Damon» and danced a bit like a baby giraffe straight out of the womb and learning to walk — wobbly and uncomfortable on it’s feet. Verdict: completely amazing in the worst possible way.
Well drinks rang in at $ 4.00 each and they have Jello shots for a buck a piece. We lasted an about an hour, got our chuckles and were on our way. Well, check that one off my bucket list!

Fact: My first trip to Silverado involved a dancer biting my ear, trying to get my phone number and me being a bit horrified in general.
I was a bit sheltered back then. Now that I’m all grow’d up, I don’t mind the occasional visit to Silverado’s or as the regulars call it «Church». The dancers are hot with a capital H, the drinks are cheap and the crowd is usually quite fun and friendly.
It’s definitely not for the shy or squeamish (see: ear bite) because the bathrooms are male oriented with minimal privacy for us ladies — and that’s just fine with me since I am not the target audience. In keeping that in line, ladies, don’t squeal and scream or think this is place for a bachelorette –it is not.
What you’ll see on the stage varies from night to night — sometimes you’ll see some fancy man underpants and sometimes you’ll see some men with almost no underpants… seriously, it’s a mixed bag. But it’s all good fun.
Four stars because despites the slight sleaze factor, it’s always been a interesting time with those cheap drinks on top.
Oh, CASH ONLY.

Oh my! Now this is CERTAINLY something we didn’t have back in the midwest. If I wasn’t a proud and dedicated Portlandian before, I sure am now! A great crowd, cheap drinks and oh yeah — all the beefcake on display a gay fella could want! Good thing I just went paleo…
So we have a friend who likes strippers. A lot. A whole hell of a lot. Since he was coming to visit us over the weekend, ending up at Silverado was pretty much a given. As per the PDX standard, this stripclub is wonderfully non-​seedy, and I’d say a large bulk of the crowd wasn’t even there to watch the ding-​swing action. Whatever floats their boat, but we were fully there for the talent.
And talent it was! I had heard rumors that the dancers at Silverado weren’t all that, but these guys were hot! They seem to lean towards the beefy and tatted (with one twinky dancer woefully standing out), and these guys are frickin acrobatic. I spend a lot of time in the gym and I can’t do a single handstand pushup. These guys were like a gay Cirque Du Soleil. (OK, a gayER Cirque Du Soleil) my personal favorite a shorter, bearded fellow with a bangin’ body who was one hell of a dancer. If you’re out there buddy, shoot me a message ;)
I do have a gripe, however. Don’t strippers usually… strip? I think «go-​go dancer» is probably a more apt description of what’s going down at Silverado. I mean, they come out on stage already just in underwear (or maybe a pair of short shorts that are gone in 60 seconds), and then that’s pretty much what they’re in for the entire performance. Only one dancer plainly showed off his howdoyoudo, and we all expected to see a lot more howdoyoudos. But whatever.
Don’t worry about me, I’m not going to be come a strip club addict. But if anybody were to ask me to suggest a gay bar in Portland, I’d probably sidestep all the «traditional» gay bars or clubs and send them directly to Silverado. It’s pretty great.
PS — cash only. But you’ve probably planned on bringing cash anyway, because… well, you know.

I should’ve read the Unilocal reviews more thoroughly before I came here.
Was in town for work, looking for a few drinks. Came across the Silverado. Cheap drinks, friendly staff. Met a few cool people. Dancers were okay. My night got a little crazier than I expected it to, which is fine. Simply an ok night. Would probably check something else out next time I’m in town.

Glad I fight for gay rights just to be discriminated against by gay men for not being a gay man. Literally got turned away for being in a group of women, being told someone in our group was «too drunk» which was a cop out. Just plain not true.
Silverado, you shouldn’t turn your nose up to customers who are supporting your business, male or female, gay or straight. Treat people the way you expect to be treated. How will there ever be equality with such actions? I will not stop treating humans equally just because of this one group of b! tches. I welcome every kind in my business and I hope someday you’ll realize your discriminatory mistakes and do the same.

Yo vine aquí de vacaciones un domingo por la noche y estaba estupendo. Los hombres se desnudan aquí y bailan muy bien. Si visito esta ciudad de nuevo, por supuesto asitirá a este lugar.